First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Holdings in Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Appian Co. (NASDAQ:APPN - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,263,405 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 83,708 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 1.48% of Appian worth $41,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in Appian by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Appian by 1,244.8% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,779 shares of the company's stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,498 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Appian during the 4th quarter worth approximately $181,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Appian during the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Appian in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $249,000. 52.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Appian

In other Appian news, Director Albert G.W. Biddle III sold 990 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.21, for a total value of $32,877.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $974,647.08. The trade was a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Abdiel Capital Advisors, Lp sold 5,103 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.02, for a total transaction of $137,883.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,755,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $263,583,234.32. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 240,510 shares of company stock valued at $6,648,635. Corporate insiders own 44.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on APPN. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Appian in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Appian from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Appian from $53.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Appian from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Appian from $40.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $34.14.

Appian Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:APPN traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.06. The stock had a trading volume of 80,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 552,206. Appian Co. has a twelve month low of $24.00 and a twelve month high of $43.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of -24.65 and a beta of 1.78.

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.11). Appian had a negative return on equity of 532.05% and a negative net margin of 14.95%. The firm had revenue of $166.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Appian Co. will post -0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Appian Profile

Appian Corporation, a software company that provides low-code design platform in the United States, Mexico, Portugal, and internationally. The company's platform offers artificial intelligence, process automation, data fabric, and process mining. It provides The Appian Platform, an integrated automation platform that enables organizations to design, automate, and optimize mission-critical business processes.